Extending your Student visa

If you have just finished or are due to finish a course in the UK, with Goldsmiths or another university, and you are going to study another course in the UK (subject to the requirements for academic progression and the five-year cap on the degree-level study in the UK) you may be eligible to apply for further leave to remain on the Student visa route.

If you currently hold a valid Student visa, you can only apply to extend that from within the UK if your new course starts within 28 days of the expiry of your current visa.

You can also apply for a Student visa from overseas, and a CAS will be issued to you once a full assessment of your eligibility to apply for a Student visa has been assessed, after you have submitted your CAS request form.

If you are required to repeat your course ‘in attendance’ with Goldsmiths, for example, if you failed some or all of your studies and have been told by assessments that you need to repeat ‘in attendance’, then it may be possible to extend your Student visa to continue your studies.

This will depend on how many credits you have left to complete (it will need to be at least 25% of the usual credit amount) and how much of the course you have remaining.

The IAS will still need to make a full assessment of your case prior to issuing a CAS and supporting a visa extension. This will involve contacting your course department and the fees team.

You will need to request a new CAS from us using our online form. This will then be sent automatically to the Immigration Advisory Service. A member of our team will contact you to discuss your request and assess your case. Please email us directly to request a link to our online form.

If you are unable to complete your PhD within the time limit of your current visa, you should email us to request a new CAS around 3-4 months before your current visa expires.

The Immigration Advisory Service will then speak to your supervisor and the relevant departments to carry out a series of checks, such as your academic progress to date and your attendance/engagement on the course.

If we are unable to support a Student visa extension for your new submission date or for your Viva, then you would be advised to leave the UK and return on a Standard Visitor visa.

You must meet the Student visa requirements and apply before your current visa expires. The Immigration Advisory Service will help you make your application, so you don’t need to worry.

Steps for applying within the UK

1. Request a new CAS from us around 3 months before your visa expires, or as soon as possible if your visa is about to expire
2. We will then contact your academic department to request details of your academic progress and attendance records
3. If you are eligible to extend your visa, we might request financial documents from you so that we can ensure you meet the Student visa requirements
4. We may invite you to attend an appointment with us to submit your visa extension application

Documents needed to extend your visa inside the UK

We may suggest that you come into our office to submit your visa application with us. If we request an appointment, you should bring digital copies of the following documents on a hard drive, USB or as PDF files on your personal laptop:

• Your bank statements meeting the Student visa financial requirements – we will tell you in the CAS process if you need to submit financial documentation
• Any academic qualifications – we will tell you what qualifications you need to bring to your appointment
• Your current passport
• Your current visa / BRP
• National Insurance number if you have one
• And any other documents requested by us

Meeting the financial requirements for the Student visa

If you have been living inside the UK for at least 12 months with a valid UK visa, and have not been away from the UK for more than 3 months in the last 12 months, at the time of applying for your new Student visa from inside the UK, then you may benefit from being exempt in having to meet any further financial requirements. We will make this assessment from your CAS request form.

However, we may still ask you to provide financial documents to demonstrate that you are able to at least cover the cost of your tuition fees before we support your visa application. This will help us to ensure you are less likely to encounter financial difficulties during your studies, which could end up affecting your enrolment as well as your wellbeing.

We also may request your financial documents in order to check that they meet UKVI requirements – in case they are requested by UKVI in their auditing process during the assessment of your Student visa application.

Attending an appointment at a visa application centre

As part of the process of applying for your visa from inside the UK, some applicants might be required to attend a visa appointment to enrol their biometrics and present original documents for the third-party company (Sopra Steria) to take scans of and send them off to the Home Office.

In other cases, you might be able to do this via the UKVI ID Check app – UKVI will confirm to you which option applies in your circumstance.

If you do need to attend a VAC, you will be allowed to retain your original passport, but you still cannot travel outside of the UK whilst your visa application is pending.

You do not need to worry if you cannot attend an appointment before your visa expires or even shortly after because as long as your visa application is submitted before the current visa expires, you are covered by what is called ‘3C leave’. This means that you can stay in the UK, even past your current visa expiry date, as long as you have a pending visa application that was submitted before the visa expiry date.

The processing time for an in-country Student visa is usually around eight weeks. You will need to remain in the UK until an outcome is received and you have obtained your new visa.  You are advised not to travel outside the UK during this time, as it can affect your visa application.

You will need to apply for your extension in your home country or the country where you are usually resident.

Steps for applying outside of the UK

1. Request a new CAS from us around three months before your visa expires, or as soon as possible if your visa is about to expire. We can only issue the CAS once we have confirmed you are outside of the UK and meet the Student visa requirements.
   
   We usually ask to see a copy of your boarding pass, flight tickets or a stamp in your passport to show your entry to your home country (or other countries of residence)

2. We contact your academic department to request details of your academic progress and attendance records

3. If you are eligible to extend your visa, we will request financial documents from you so that we can ensure you meet the Student visa requirements

4. We will issue your CAS and you can apply for your visa in your home country

Returning from an interruption

If you are returning to Goldsmiths, we recommend that you request a CAS from us around three months before your return date.

This will allow us to check your supporting documents by email, including your bank statements, and means you should have time to apply for your visa in your home country. We will also need to check your previous attendance history.

You should check the visa processing times in your country and if you have concerns, request your CAS a little sooner.